Windows Vista, Office 2007 Expelled From British Schools

A British educational report suggests the upgrade would increase costs and create software compatibility problems while providing little benefit.

By Paul McDougall
InformationWeek
January 11, 2008 02:03 PM


The agency that governs educational technology in the United Kingdom has advised schools in the country to keep Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT)'s Windows Vista operating system and its Office 2007 software out of the classroom and administrative offices.

"Upgrading existing ICT systems to Microsoft Vista or Office 2007 is not recommended," said the British Educational Communications and Technology Agency, also known as Becta, in a report issued this week.

Becta officials said a study the group commissioned found that upgrading school systems from Windows XP to Vista and Office 2007 would increase costs and create software compatibility problems while providing little benefit.

"Our advice is to be sure there is a strong business case for upgrading to these products as the costs are significant and the benefits remain unclear," said Stephen Lucy, Becta's executive director of strategic technologies, in a statement.

http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=205602879

I have played around a little with Vista and I think it sucks for the more advanced computer user.

especially those with Windows 2003 servers.

I hope Service Pack 1 ameliorates some of the wreckage.

OhioChick

GOOD!.. Have a new brand PC, with Vista, and a lot of my hardware and software are just not working well with Vista.. Properly have to pay for a new printer when I need one.. It sucks because my old printer are as "brand new" never used hard, and was working well with XP.. And a lot of other programs are just going by.. But Office 2007 are working as good as it ever was doing in XP.. maybe even better...

But it is maybe the same words some was using with Xp when that program was brand new, and have all the problems that come with a new operation system..

On the other side, Microsoft SHOULD have used 6 months more to sqeek out some more problems then they have been doing.. I have never experienced the most "destructive" damage that some have told that Vista can do. But it have some Small, but very irritating problems, that I do hate..

And Xp is a good program, stabile, and with all the need we may need.. But that is the same we may come to say when Vista are "growing up"...

I hope SP1 would do some good for some of the problems I experienced with Vista....

The most irritations thing with VIsta is maybe that everything is on the wrong side, from then I was working with XP..

Diclotican

Sorry my bad English, not my native language

I just found out yesterday an HP printer I have--which is not all that old--is "obsolete." That's what they said when I asked for the software that would allow me to scan in text. I can scan in images but no text. So now I either buy a new printer (not going to do it) or hook up another computer to this printer. I am really angry about this and this isn't the first problem I've had like this with Vista and its workability with other products.



Cher

NJCher

I to have a HP printer - who are not that old.. An desk jet 6122 printer.. In great shape, but also "old" and with no software.. Well in my language then.. Can get in English, but is little stupid when I use words like Æ Ø and Å with are not whit the standard English language.. I don't want to know how it is with Chinese or japanese... :evilgrin:

I might have to by a new printer, or maybe trie to fix the old one, to use as a bridge between my new Pc and the old.. I don't know yet.. Have figured to have the old PC in net with the new one, but I am little unsure how it is with Vista and XP in this type of thing.. Have to figure it out I guess..

I hope that Vista, with SP1 would be more easy with "older product" as program to Windows XP. It cost a lot of money to pay for a new printer. It is january, and the bills are in. Cant afford a new printer this month either I guess.. Well time Will show...

Diclotican

Sorry my bad English, not my native language

Were far more about getting that DRM crap out into the public sector and getting people to start paying for upgrades and far less about making sure they have a quality product.

To be fair, there were problems with XP at first too, but perhaps I am remembering wrong, but there seemed to be fewer problems with people moving to XP than there are with people moving to Vista.

I will say this for Vista though - it sure is pretty.

;-)

That means you either have to buy new versions of all your software, stick with your old versions of Winblows, or go to www.openoffice.org

At our house we are running, on various computers, Win95, Win 2000, ME, and XP Pro. The new laptop has Vista and it is a giant pain in the tokus.

I wonder what circle of hell Bill Gates will end up in?


When I had to do heavy duty word processing and transcripts several hundred pages long, I used WordPerfect. I loved it. The typing I did didn't use any of the standard forms and it was too hard to create a new template for my weird format. I hate Word.

Have been using WP for about 18 years now, starting with the old DOS-based 5.1 (which I still have on my computer). I am a freelance copy editor and one of the book publishers I work for does everything in WP. I believe it is actually quite prevalent among academic publishers.

I've had 8.0 for years now--it is so straightforward, it doesn't try to "think" for me and insert crap indents, bullets, extra spacing between paragraphs, etc., the way Word does, and the Reveal Codes and Document Compare features are worth their weight in gold. There was a time, in the very early 90s, when WP, rather than Word, was THE program for word processing. I do wish it had caught on instead of Word, which I hate with a passion.

Word 2007 is a complete reinvention of the wheel, with menus totally reorganized so you can't find anything anymore, and icons instead of words for functions, so you have to think more to accomplish things--a lot of bells and whistles and very little of real benefit. I was forced to install it when I started getting lots of 2007 docs that were incompatible with 2003 (even with a "patch" of little real worth)--luckily it didn't displace 2003 so I have both on my computer and can save the 2007s as 2003 and work on them with that.

that companies other than microsoft refused to make current versions of their products work on vista in an effort to sell new products to those who purchase vista computers. according to the computer guru i talked to, microsoft has requested repeatedly to work with these companies to make their hardware and software compatible, but these companies saw a cash cow in the making as well as a way to discredit microsoft... i don't know, but i've kept my old computer hooked up because my scanner will not work with my vista computer...and adobe created a new version of indesign and photoshop specifically for vista, so i keep my old copy on my old computer rather than pay all the big bucks to get all new stuff...

It requires a better and faster processor and much more memory just to run this overgrown dinosaur. Yes, my hardware is also having compatability problems that had worked great on XP. The Vista software isn't just an upgrade from XP with glitches as it is too different and overgrown with outright mistakes in it. I do agree that some are using this as a means to make everybody buy new and if you must do that then the hell with them all and go get a MAC. Nobody I know of who has gotten Vista is happy with it and besides myself, that includes at least one business that relies on computers for the function of the business in the CAD field. The cash cow was Microsoft's idea and it was half baked to the point that my old Millenium software has more features and usable functions without the need for all of the super hardware Vista requires. XP was a great accomplishment with a few bugs of course, but nothing updates couldn't cure or address and it's main drawback was vulnerability as all MS software has been to viruses due to poor engineering of the software. They could've souped up XP with better features and fixes along with inventing a virus program that actually works instead of this shit. Just my opinion.